Ex-celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi found competent to stand trial for alleged $15 million client thefts
LOS ANGELES — Disgraced celebrity Los Angeles attorney Tom Girardi has been found competent to stand trial on charges that he stole more than $15 million from his clients.
A federal judge filed notice of the summary order under seal on Tuesday. Lawyers for both sides were given five days to identify any information in the agreement that they wanted the judge to keep confidential.
Girardi, 84, is the estranged husband of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne.
Girardi pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles last year to fraud on charges he embezzled from clients, including an Arizona widow whose husband died in a boating accident; a Los Angeles couple was injured in a car accident that left their son paralyzed; and a man who was severely burned in the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion.
If convicted, he could be sentenced to decades in prison.
The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment to its public defenders.
The competency hearing focused on whether Girardi understood the charges and proceedings against him and could assist with his own defense. His lawyers argued that he could not participate in the trial because he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, which they said left him confused and with memory problems. He is currently staying in the memory department of a nursing home.
Prosecutors argued that Girardi exaggerated his symptoms.
As one of the nation's most prominent lawyers, Girardi took on powerful corporations, movie studios and Pacific Gas and Electric in a case that led to a $333 million settlement, which was portrayed in the Julia Roberts film “Erin Brockovich” 2000.
But his law empire collapsed, he was disbarred in California in 2022 for theft from clients, and he faces mounting legal troubles.
Girardi also faces federal fraud charges in Chicago, where he is accused of stealing about $3 million from relatives of victims of a 2018 Lion Air crash that killed 189 people.
It is expected that the court in Chicago will follow the jurisdiction decision in California.